Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Isthmust, IS MUST.

Further to my earlier post (chialamak, so formal, I hate letters with those "further to this and further to that), I think I simply have to blog about this place, coz honestly, and though the owners are my close friends, honestly honestly, it was one of the best culinary experiences I've had in a long long time. It's the kind of food that really tickles and tantalises your palate, but yet, it is food that you'd go back (or at least I would) repeatedly for more. There are some places, yar, it might have been interesting culinary experience, but I can only eat it say once a year. Not so with Isthmus. Of course, the sterling company and the fantastic margarita already gave me a predinner buzz....

Oyster shots with Vodka, Sake and other delish stuff.

Mmmm, I can't remember what it's called, but it was darn good. It's kinda like a large gnocchi.

Oooh, avocado something something, with that gorgeous green sauce.

I'm not a real lamb person, but this lamb shank, is really really good. Falls off the bone, exceedingly tender.

Prawns in screwpine leaf. (Pandan leerrrrrr) Prawns very fresh (and big). Very tasty. Sort of a fancy har loke, with bursts of different flavours.

Pan Seared Salmon I think, with a lovely sweet sour sauce. I not a salmon person, so this wasn't my favourite, but for the ichthomananiacs, go for it.

This is one of my favourites. If I were alone, I'd order this as my mains. Steak, so tender you'd almost swear it was a form of wagyu or something. Seriously, bovine fans, mmmmmm.......

Citrus Salad. Pomelo is really an underused and underrated fruit, though most of the time, overpriced. It goes really well in salads. So does watercress. But I guess being chinese, we are used to yee sang, and should know this for a fact.

Lime Tart with Kumquats. First bite seems really sour, but as you work your way along, it's actuall very palatable. Love that citrus sauce surrounding it. You know how some orange sauces can taste like Haliborange.

Moist chocolate cake, nice and light.

What a great dinner it was. As I said, ISTHMUS IS MUST.

Moving along, to an earlier topic, my ICCA (I just found out it stands for International Centre for Creative urm....Art???) Wilton course that I'm taking.

We had to prepare an iced cake for homework, using the Wilton Buttercream recipe, which contains no butter, only shortening, and is supremely gross to eat, for adults. This was my iced cake. Was so exhausted from baking over the weekend, asked wife to whip up a plain butter cake for me to ice.

Then we practised in the class how to pipe stars and stripes. Expect me to ice a whole cake with these little stars ah? FORGETTTTT IT MAN!!!!!!They do have tips that can pipe 3 stars at a time but STILL!!!!Then they teach us how to transfer a pattern template to your cake, for icing, using piping gel.

And the finished product. Of course, using the same technique, you should be able to transfer any design onto a cake, iced with that particular Wilton Butter cream recipe, coz it contains meringue powder, which in turn, makes it easier for the jel to stick

These below aren't nipples. They are the base for the Wilton Rose, which is touted as their pride and joy. Not being a flower person, I have little interest in this aspect of the course, but since you need to do it to graduate, I just hope my roses would not resemble a tit with peeling skin.

Another cake order (this was before the Wilton course) was 40 cupcakes, for some birthday. From the icing, you can tell WHY I need to go for a cake decorating course. Honestly, I have no patience for all this intricate work. Incidentally, I need to bake 400 cupcakes for my church's vacation bible school, themed Arctic Edge. I think to ice it with buttercream would be suicide. Anyone knows a simple icing sugar icing with mint? I was thinking of just adding water, icing sugar and peppermint essence. Will it work? I'll keep you posted.

yar, tell me about it, i hate those too. (the pointy icing thing) which is why i cant envisage making a whole cake laidat.

i was eyeing the wilton sugar paste course actually, but you have to do levels one and two before reaching 3. i quite enjoy working with sugarpaste, more so than with buttercream for sure. like play doh hor.

i looked at the syllabus and mentioned to cl (aka Mrs PL) that it looks too simple for you.cupcake tip - if you're making a lot, instead of scooping them in one by one, pour the batter into a plastic bag, snip the corner and pipe them into the moulds. faster, neater and more consistent that way.

About Me

Oft misunderstood soul. Shy, reserved, likes to stay in the background, but inevitably mistaken as not shy, extrovert etc. Originally meant to be a culinary blog, but in due course discovered man does not live on cake alone..hence the waffle.